What Goes Into an Architectural Plan – Another Master Bath Remodel

This is a recent master bath remodel of an older home in downtown San Jose. The original bathroom had two access doors on each side of the bathroom, with the toilet behind one of the doors. Originally the bathroom was most likely a hall between two bedrooms.

We kept the original doors and hardware, which gave the space a nice feel and kept a connection to the older elements of the house. The toilet that was behind one of the doors was replaced by a wall-hung toilet, so that the door could be opened more easily. The floor is now able to flow directly into the shower, so there is no need to step over a curb element. We also made the shower glass go from floor to ceiling.

An important design element for this bathroom was a desire to get natural light into the room. We adapted a skylight, creating a sun tunnel, to allow light from the roof surface. A round pipe now comes down into a transition piece painted white, to reflect more light naturally. The filtered light is perfect, with no glare and this particular design keeps less heat from escaping. The lighting fixtures for night use are not visible within the skylight. We also put lights in the light chamber of the exhaust fan and another exhaust fan in the room. The fan in the attic efficiently sucks in air, which makes it very quiet.